The literature on the so-called new modes of governance in the European Union focuses on steering
instruments beyond hierarchy and coercion. While it has repeatedly been put into question how
‘new’ these instruments are, no systematic attention has been paid to the mutual dependency
between policy types marked by the specific conflict lines and choice of governance tools. On the
contrary, some attempts to classify modes of governance explicitly disregard policy typologies.
The paper argues conversely that in order to arrive at a comprehensive mapping of modes of
governance – ‘old’ and ‘new’ – the most promising doorway is indeed to start from the actor
constellations characteristic for the different policy types. A review of the European Union’s
policies and modes of governance illustrates how modes of governance are pre-defined by the
structures between policy-makers and –takers innate to the policy types that dominate supranational
policy-making
